Her Eyes
by DELETEDACCOUNT143577883589
Summary: Haymitch's daughter asks a question and he's forced to remember her and her eyes.


**An A/U Hayffie/Hayniss. So yeah, be careful when crossing this bridge.**

"Daddy, what was mommy like?" Ten-year-old Kirsta asks. Haymitch stops the process of cooking dinner and bites his lip. _Why, oh why is this young child so curious?_

"She was smart." Haymitch says flatly, before going back to the food on the stove. He can feel the bright green eyes- _her eyes_ -glaring at him and rolling. He knows what she wants. A real answer.

"Come on daddy, _please_. I have to do a report on one important woman in my life and I want to do it on _momm_y." Kirsta whines. Haymitch sighs and puts down the knife he was using to chop onions. He opens the cabinets full of cookbooks- _her cookbooks_ -and pulls out one book named _Memorabilia_. He pauses before looking at the dark-haired child in front of him.

"Can't you do it on Katniss? She's your mom too."

"She's my _step_-mom. I want to do it on my _real_ mom. Please, daddy." She pleads. He grumbles something about persistence and guides her to the couch in the living room. He flips on the book, the aging pages giving him a sense of nostalgia. He passes Finnick's and pauses before carrying on to the last page. On the last page is Effie, all grins and shining green eyes. Her blonde hair is a mess of curls behind her, flowing gently in the breeze. Her stomach is large with pregnancy. She is truly beautiful. Beside her, in Katniss' writing, is her biography.

Haymitch remembers the picture, it was a week before she gave birth to Kirsta.

"Do you remember anything about your mom? At all?" he asks. Of course she doesn't, it's a stupid question. But Kirsta thinks carefully before shaking her head.

"No." Haymitch sighs and wraps an arm around his daughter.

"Your mom died giving birth to you. Her name was Euphoria 'Effie' Trinket-Abernathy... and she was the love of my life."

_"Wow._" Kirsta mutters and looks at her father. He runs a hand through his dark curls and blinks the tears away from his gray eyes. Kirsta pushes her own dark hair behind her ears.

"Yes... she was beautiful. She was the woman that birthed you, of course. We didn't think she'd be able to have children, due to her imprisonment-"

"Mom was in jail? What did she do?" Kirsta asks quietly. Haymitch coughs a little before turning back to his daughter.

"Nothing, sweetie. She didn't do a thing."

"That's not fair."

"Back then honey, not many things were fair." Haymitch says, pulling the girl closer to him. He runs a rough calloused finger across the woman in the picture's cheek before continuing.

"Nothing was fair. We didn't think you would live... there were so many complications... when it came down to it, it was either cut your life and save hers, or cut her life and save yours." He sighs and closes the book, handing it to Kirsta.

"She chose _me_?" She asks in amazement.

"I was getting coffee... I would have stopped her you know? I just... I was so _tired_. She stayed in labor for _48 hours_ and I left for five minutes to get coffee and when I come back they're writing my wife's death certificate. But you were so special to her. She didn't want to lose you. She chose your life over hers. And... I guess it wasn't a bad decision." Haymitch looks at his daughter, who is staring in pure awe at the book in front of her.

"Wow. Thank you for sharing daddy... I'm going to go read more about her." She says. Holding the book closely to her heart, she bounds out of the room and up the stairs into her own. At that exact moment, her hears a woman clear her voice.

"You heard it all?"

"Yes, love, I did. That was really courageous." Katniss says, crossing the room and settling down onto his lap. Haymitch gives her a little kiss before rubbing her bulging belly.

"I did it for her report. Don't want those grades dropping." He mutters, biting back the steady flow of tears that want to spill over.

"That's crap and we both know it. You are an amazing father for doing that Haymitch. For giving her and your own self that closure that you needed."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, do me a favor Katniss." Haymitch says, looking up at his new wife. Katniss looks down, one dark eyebrow raised.

"Please, please, please, don't die on me with this one." He says gently. Katniss just smiles and kisses him. She doesn't have the heart to tell him about her own pregnancy complications.

So she stares into his eyes. She sees the war, his games, his years of mentoring, his alcoholism, his withdrawal, his grief, she sees it all in his eyes.

And when he looks into hers, he sees poverty, hunger, her games, her other games, the rebellion, falling in and out and in love. He sees it all, in her eyes.

_Just like he used to see in Effie's._


End file.
